Do you believe in God, do you believe in fate

[shytot]

Someone once asked me if I believed in fate, I ask what fate was, and they said it was,
'what ever happens is meant to happen, and you cannot change it, if you try and change it,
that is what was meant to happen, and nothing changes'.
I said if it cannot be changed what is the point of having a word for it,
it is like saying, 'everything is art', if everything is art, there is no such thing as art.

So what is the point of talking about what happens when we die, no one knows,
we wont find out because we will be dead, I can understand some people might
be worried not knowing, but what good did worrying ever do. one might speculate,
but that is all it would be, speculation, in fact it might be so fascinating, it could even
be a subject for a book, or even two.

 

[Smoke]

I said if it cannot be changed what is the point of having a word for it,
it is like saying, 'everything is art', if everything is art, there is no such thing as art.

:clap

So what is the point of talking about what happens when we die, no one knows,
we wont find out because we will be dead, I can understand some people might
be worried not knowing, but what good did worrying ever do. one might speculate,
but that is all it would be, speculation, in fact it might be so fascinating, it could even
be a subject for a book, or even two.

I'm surprised nobody thought of that before.

I don't believe in a fate that cannot be changed, but I do believe in a destiny that we work out for ourselves. Two pertinent quotations:

"A man's fate is his own, more than he knows. We attract what we are." (Robertson Davies)

"Destiny is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." (William Jennings Bryan)

I believe in God, but not in the gods of dogmas. Theism is no better than mental idolatry most of the time. The God I believe in is too big to be described or comprehended; if one called God the soul of the universe, or the soul that encompasses the universe, one would be closer to the truth than what one usually hears in houses of worship, but one would still be wrong.

"You cannot have knowledge and worship at the same time. Mystery is the essence of divinity. Gods must keep their distances from men." (Zora Neale Hurston)



I don't believe in the God who fits the description of Santa Claus:

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So you'd better be good, for goodness' sake
​

I don't believe in a God who demands of himself the blood sacrifice of his own son before his "justice" will be satisfied regarding humans. I don't believe in a God who is wrathful and sends his creatures to eternal torment, but neither do I believe in a God who is tender and wants only to soothe our hurts and grant our desires. God is other and yet he encompasses everything. I believe both the following statements are equally true, as far as they go, and fall equally short of describing the Mystery:

"The inhabitant or soul of the universe is never seen; its voice alone is heard. All we know is that it has a gentle voice, like the voice of a woman, a voice so fine and gentle that even children cannot become afraid. And what is says is: Sila ersinarsinivdluge, 'Be not afraid of the universe.'" (Najagneq)

"The divine is not human; it is something quite different. And it is not noble or sublime or spiritualized, as one likes to believe. It is alien and repellent and sometimes it is madness. Or so I have found it." (Pär Lagerkvist)

 

[BucephalusBB]

I believe in fate. I believe everything is set!

I said if it cannot be changed what is the point of having a word for it

same point as leaving it alone.

So what is the point of talking about what happens when we die, no one knows

Because thinking about death can also learn us stuff about life.

but what good did worrying ever do.

Worrying can keep us out of trouble. Worrying can make us do things without motivation and worrying can learn us to be cautious.

one might speculate,
but that is all it would be, speculation

Yep, but wouldn't that be fact with almost every subject?

 

[shytot]

When there is no way to find the answer to a question like this, one can only speculate, and it would be the same for almost every subject where it was 'impossible' to find the answer, that is the reason religion has and will just keep on going and going, in fact that is the beauty of it, you can read into it whatever you want,
If I said 'I believe in Father Christmas', you might say, 'that's must be handy,
it cuts down on the cost of presents',
not so, I buy presents from the store, the same as you, he does not deliver them,
that is a myth, he only puts the ideas into the heads of the toy designers,
you prove he does not, and I will stop believing in him.
you prove God does not exist, and I will stop believing in him,
you prove there are no fairies in the garden, and so and so on,
it is absolutely foolproof, guaranteed to go on for ever and ever,
no proof either way.
you can make up any stupid story, if it can not be proven to be wrong.
then people can say 'well it could have happened like that' and the beat goes on.
in fact the more ludicrous the story the better it will be,
like the 'Tower of Babel' or 'Noar's ark' (someone forgot the Kangaroos)
'Parting the water of the Red sea' all wonderful children's stories,
all taken literally, and believed.

 

[Doc]

I was also asked if I believe in fate recently. I responded by saying, "If by fate, you mean that there is already a plan in place for my future and that I am meant to do something...then no I do not believe in fate."

I believe that we make our own destinies.

On the issue of God, I am undecided. I find the existence or lack of existence of a God(s) ultimately irrelevant. Either way, I am still the same person who must make choices. The choices that mold my own destiny.

 

[finalfrogo]

If God is omniscient, He knows exactly what's going to happen to each of us. I suppose you can call this fate.

 

[randb]

"I'm not scared of death. I just don't wanna be there when it happens" - Woody Allen